Recipe: Pumpkin Soup—the Ultimate Guide (with added pumpkin lifehack)

Posted on 19 August, 2021

We published this delicious recipe for spicy pumpkin soup with coriander, orange and coconut cream in the first lockdown.

Now we are republishing it in case you want to prep some for your freezer in the event of, ahem, illness. That’s right, we’ve got your back. This soup freezes beautifully and everybody knows that when you are sick, or recuperating from the ravages of a virus, that a nourishing soup can do wonders.

Also, want to hear the world’s most epic pumpkin hack? It is….(drumroll please) that you can cook your Butternut pumpkin by throwing it in a 180-degree oven for one and a half hours.

Don’t cut it—don’t even wash it. Just put it on a tray (to catch the drips) and let it roast all on its own.

Once it has cooled, you can peel the skin back and scoop out the seeds, leaving nothing but sweet, moist pumpkin pulp—great to use in soups, or mash as a side, or use as toddler and baby food.

You will never look at a pumpkin the same way again, we swear—and think of all those knife injuries we have saved you from because, there’s no denying, cutting pumpkin is a bitch of a job.

But back to the soup.

Ingredients

• 1 Butternut pumpkin whole-roasted
• 1 can coconut cream (or milk if you prefer)
• 2 white onions chopped
• Some spices, including cumin, coriander, garam masala or ginger
• Half to one cup of stock
• The rind and juice of an orange
• A bunch of chopped fresh coriander
• Greek yoghurt to dollop in at the end
• 1 red chilli finely sliced as garnish

Method

Chuck your pumpkin in the oven in the early afternoon and cook it, then let it cool.

Later that afternoon, fry up your onion in some olive oil in a large casserole pot. Throw in some spices—whatever you like and whatever you have to hand. Cook it all for just a few minutes.

Peel your pumpkin and scoop out the flesh and then add it to your cooked onion.

Add some stock and then pour in your coconut cream. Grate in your orange rind and squeeze in the juice of your lemon.

When it has cooled sufficiently, stick in your stick blender and blend it until smooth.

Add your coriander assuming you aren’t a coriander-hater. Serve in a bowl with a dollop of yoghurt and sprinkle some red chilli over.

If you want to make a meal of it, whip up some garlic bread, or grill some sourdough with garlic, butter and parmesan.

Eat some the day you make it and store the rest in the freezer.